


Sin from thy lips? (O trespass sweetly urged)

by ButMakeItGay



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Clexa Week 2020, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Forbidden Love, Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, No Angst, Smut, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:53:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22994269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ButMakeItGay/pseuds/ButMakeItGay
Summary: Stopping just short of barreling into the self satisfied woman, Clarke expelled an anxious breath of air through her nose as she struggled to restrain herself. "What are you doing here?"The cheeky grin she registered before receiving a prim bow only served to raise her hackles and internal temperature just that much more.Straightening, the woman tucked the tips of her fingers into the tight lapel of her posh looking jacket, an air of self indulgence radiating her every word."You know how I love a good party."___________________Romeo and Juliet AU for Clexaweek
Relationships: Clarke Griffin/Lexa
Comments: 125
Kudos: 421





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Clarke, a Capulet. Lexa, a Montague. The age old tale of forbidden love.
> 
> Sorry for the hella dramatic title, I am feeling mushy

"What is she doing here?"

The air stole from her lungs as her eyes fell to the offender in question, her hand tightening lethally around the stem of her glass. Clarke could do nothing more than clench her jaw painfully as she watched the mortal enemy of her family's bloodline nod and smirk smugly at a scowling passing stranger.

"I don't know," she seethed.

Her heart throbbed with indignant disbelief. Though she shouldn't have bothered with dubiety at any actions rising from her, knowing quite intimately the ends to which the whole lot of them would stoop to make a point.

"Well I'm not going to stand for it. I'm going to have her removed."

"No, Bellamy," she said sternly, lifting a hand to the man's chest to impede his path. "You will not cause a scene."

"She's doing well enough of that on her own." His emphatic gesture drew her attention back to the interloper, feeling a spark of something dark and unbecoming at the way the woman's eyes traveled along the bust of a party reveler's gown.

Gritting her jaw at the blatant appreciation, Clarke drew herself up and continued decisively. "I will go speak with her and remind her that she is… not welcomed in these halls. A moment, please." 

Regally squaring her shoulders, Clarke handed her forgotten drink off to a waiter, folding her hands behind her back as she swept across the floor. She felt her stomach tighten in apprehension and annoyance as a twinkling set of green latched onto her instead, as though nothing were out of the ordinary as she watched Clarke approach. 

Stopping just short of barreling into the self satisfied woman, Clarke expelled an anxious breath of air through her nose as she struggled to restrain herself. "What _are_ you _doing_ here?"

The cheeky grin she registered before receiving a prim bow only served to raise her hackles and internal temperature just that much more. 

Straightening, the woman tucked the tips of her fingers into the tight lapel of her posh looking jacket, an air of self indulgence radiating her every word. 

"You know how I love a good party."

"I don't presume to know what you do and do not enjoy, Ms. Montague."

Tipping slightly forward, the woman smiled devilishly. "Now, Clarke… We _both_ know that simply is not true."

Feeling the flush explode across the apples of her cheeks in regret for her choice of words, Clarke’s eyes darted around to register those whose steely gazes lingered on them through the exchange. “You have to go, Lexa. They’re already unhappy with your presence here.”

"Fortunate for us all that I am not here for their enjoyment, is it not?"

"Lexa-"

"You lot can be unbearably _no fun_ when you want to be… Very well," she conceded airily, holding her hand up in a show of surrender. "If you say I must, then I shall leave."

"Tha-"

"But it will be you who must show me out, if for nothing other than to save us both a scene at the hands of others."

Words dying on her tongue, Clarke floundered a moment, miffed with herself for not having seen that coming. She knew the games, the never ending battle of wit quite well enough by now. How she'd walked right into that checkmate of reasoning…

Eyes doing a final lap of the ballroom, Clarke nodded discreetly as she stepped forward and gripped Lexa by the arm. "Do not make this worse than it already-"

"Unhand me!" Lexa exclaimed with a smile as she very willingly allowed herself to be dragged from the room.

Rolling her eyes, Clarke realized she should've seen that coming too.

___________________________________

  
  


"Why must you do this every time?" Clarke sighed and then moaned, hands gripping fistfuls of brunette locks as lips trailed over the swell of her breasts. 

"My eyes screamed for the chance to see you in this gown, what would you have me do," Lexa mumbled into the giving flesh. "When I spied it hanging in your chambers, I knew neither God nor the stars above could stop me from making an appearance."

Grunting annoyedly, Clarke gently pulled the woman back up, cupping her jaw as she panted against kiss bruised lips. "You can't keep doing this. They're going to hurt you one day-"

"I'd very much like to see them try," Lexa grinned roguishly, her chin lifting defiantly as her hands continued to wander. 

"Why must you tantalize them with offerings of conflict?" Clarke asked between pulls from primrose and champagne bubbled lips. "So I or you both may be caught in the crossfire? You're content with such thoughts, Lexa?... My family, like yours," she emphasized for what felt like the hundredth time, "have generations of hatred between them-"

"And yet I love _you.._. With every breath of my lungs."

Melting into the woman currently pinning her to the wall of the small drawing room, Clarke rested her forehead against her lover's, needing a moment to clear her mind from the words and suppleness of her kiss. "… This peace, this truce... it is fragile… If they begin warring again-"

"I will side with you," Lexa pulled back with a small serene smile. "The surety of that you must hold within your heart, Clarke. The surety of my love and devotion… The sun will rise each morning, the tide will surge and retreat, and I _will_ denounce the very sound of my name, rather than live a life without you."

"You cannot say such things," Clarke whispered with pained solemnity, hands cupping the face looking upon her in adoration. "I will not survive should anything happen to keep you from me. And they would plunge heaven and earth asunder at the very whisperings of you and me."

"That will not happen... My heart is yours. Nothing beyond that matters."

"Your family-"

"Is stubborn," Lexa cut in softly, trailing fingers over the cleft of her jaw and chin. "And foolish. And blind for not seeing how beautiful the vowels and consonants of the name Capulet can feel upon the tongue."

Clarke could only fall deeper into the woman, shuddering with baited breath with each declaration, touch, and kiss.

"We will wait for our time. For when I am the head of house and crest... And when that day comes? Family name will no longer matter... As yours and mine will be the same-"

Lexa's words cut off as their lips crashed together. Strong hands ever steadying as Clarke's heart swelled beyond her ribs, beyond her body, at the promise and need to reciprocate in kind. She very nearly wanted to cry with it all, imagining a someday that only felt real within the sanctuary of those arms.

And then she heard a knock.

A small gasp burst from her lips as she pulled back with a pop. 

They stood frozen, staring flushed and slack jawed at each other for the longest beat of a moment. A smirk began to pull at the edges of plump lips, blue eyes flashing dangerously in warning to whatever ridiculous thought was playing through that infuriatingly gorgeous mind. 

A second knock sounded, effectively kicking Clarke's brain into action. "Go," she whispered in a frantic rush, unceremoniously shoving Lexa toward the window. "Go, go, go."

"Ow," Lexa chuckled under her breath, steps stumbling across the room under urgent hands. "Here I stand dousing you in sweet nothings of devotion, and I receive naught but a boot to the backside in return."

"You'll receive much more to your backside should they find you locked away with me," Clarke hissed, flipping the latch and throwing open the window. "Now go."

"What? No farewell kiss to tide me and my aching heart over?"

"Lexa," she grumbled, fisting a hand to the front of her velveted jacket, feeling the stiff embroidered stitching of the Montague crest that stood as a bane on her heart and happiness. She smashed their lips together for a fraction of a second, resolutely ignoring the vibrating laughter against her mouth.

"My word," Lexa grinned when Clarke pulled away. "Contain yourself, m'lady."

Huffing quietly, Clarke pushed her to the edge of the sill, holding one hand to steady the woman as she lifted herself over to the ground outside. "The garden should be clear of the party by now, take the rose path to the servant gate. Now, go-"

"Wait," Lexa interrupted, hands landing on the door of the window to stop it before it could close. "... Shall I come to you tonight?"

_"Lexa."_

"Honorably, of course. If only to help free you from the intricacies of your gown."

Snorting indelicately at that blatant lie, Clarke shook her head. "My dress? I'm sure."

"If the occasion should arise that you require my hands in other matters?" Lexa whispered into the air between them, leaning until their lips were a mere breath apart, "I would joyously be at your service… however you should need me."

The sigh escaped her before she knew what she was doing, neck stretching forward to chase the mischievous smirk as it danced just out of her reach. 

"Tonight, my love," Lexa grinned, releasing her hands from the window and beginning to walk backwards toward the path. 

Correcting herself from where she had swayed in pursuit of contact, Clarke glared at the glinting green eyes that shone brightly under the hang of the moon. "You will be the death of me."

"Strange. Within me, you breathe only life."

Rolling her eyes at the saccharine words, Clarke shook her head and eased the windows closed. "Goodnight, Lexa."

 _"Until_ tonight," she emphasized through the darkness that had already fallen, finally turning away at the edge of the small grassy patch that lined the sprawling home to take off down the path as Clarke had instructed. 

As she snapped shut the latch on the folded shut window, voices filtered in from the hall to her ears. "Clarke?" came the call along with a knock before the handle turned and a head looked in. "There you are," Bellamy breathed a disgruntled sigh of relief. "Octavia, she's here."

"Where have you been?" the younger Blake sibling demanded lightly as she hustled past her brother in the doorway. "We've been searching for ages. Why are you hiding in here? What did that wretched girl do?"

"What?" Clarke asked, feeling a slice of anger at the descriptor. "She did nothing. I asked her to leave and she did."

"Then why the lack of answer when we first passed this room?"

"Not that you are owed an answer from me," Clarke frowned, drawing herself up with a haughty air of elegance, "but I wished to take a moment for myself. These parties are taxing on the sensibilities as it is… An… annoyance such as that woman’s presence only adds to my distaste for it all."

She felt sick at the words, the lies coating her mouth thicker and more acridly than normal with the ghost of soft lips and hands still fresh on her skin. She loathed the mantle of feud defined propriety she was forced to maintain. But life was what it was. And her name unerringly Capulet, so the lies were a hideous necessity to her existence, as well as the safety of the fleeing figure who commanded the very beat of her heart. 

A hand softly landed on her arm, her gaze shifting up to caring brown eyes. "I'm sorry the party was ruined by her, I knew I should have stepped in myself."

"Don't be silly, Bellamy," she lightly assured, patting his hand warmly before pulling away toward the door. "She is nothing I cannot handle." Clarke's heart tripped over that decidedly more pleasant falsehood, smiling to herself at the cunning, sharp face smirking frustratingly within her mind's eye.

"Well, let's all forget that unpleasantness for the time being and try to enjoy the party," Bellamy said jovially as the siblings followed shortly behind her out into the hall. 

“Yes, let us enjoy what’s left of the festivities.”

"I have a feeling the night is going to turn out much more pleasurable than we'd originally anticipated."

Clarke didn't bother to temper her smile at the man’s offhand statement as they reentered the great hall.

 _'Yes… More pleasurable, indeed.'_

  
  
♡  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa spies a blonde haired beauty and things get pretty gay 😏

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof this is gay. Huge thanks to my beta, commander-leksa on tumblr, who helped me make this actually readable AND made amazing Clexa edits for the moodboard on my blog 😭

_“What did you just call me?”_

Spinning on the spot, Lexa stepped forward to stand nose to nose with her challenger in the middle of the bustling square, green eyes refusing to flinch at the growled provocation. Townspeople scurried and sauntered around them, paying no more mind than a huff or two to the halt in the flow of foot traffic.

Rubbing her chin, Lexa pretended to think for a moment, finally nodding and snapping her fingers as though the thought had finally come to her. “I believe the exact word was, ‘boorish’.”

“Say it again to my _face.”_

“Dear woman, I am quite literally mere inches from your face.”

"I should kill you where you stand."

"By all means. I invite you to draw your sword."

A tense moment passed. Lexa raised her brow in silent challenge, lips pursing to stop any curve or waver. 

But as always, her facade crumbled at the huff and small shove to her chest. A toothy grin broke across her face as she stumbled a few steps back before righting herself as the pair resumed their ambling walk through the market.

“I loathe the very sight of you more often than not,” Anya grumbled beside her, shoving right back each time the goading woman weaved into her side. "Why I deign to grace you with my presence-"

“Come now,” Lexa drawled as she clapped a hand to her friend and kin’s shoulder. “Today is no day to be as churlish as your general disposition dictates. The sun is warming our skin, our pockets are weighted with gold-”

 _“Your_ pockets are weighted,” Anya cut in. “Some of our fathers do not believe in spoiling us with a bottomless purse to necessitate the inflation of our egos.”

“Don't be a grump, Anya... I have plenty for you, fair fellow Montague,” Lexa teased, pinching a severe cheek before darting out of reach of the swatting hand. “So be merry. The day is lovely. And there are... beautiful trappings all around us,” she trailed with a sigh and a smirk. Twisting with each passing stranger, Lexa tipped nods and lazy grins to any who caught her wandering gaze, eyes sliding from figure to figure... 

Before halting in place at the arresting sight in front of her. “... Abundantly so.”

The muddled drone of Anya's words faded in her ears as she stood and gaped openly. 

“What in the world are you doing?” Anya called from a few steps away, having continued walking for a moment before seeming to realize she was no longer being followed. Lexa barely registered the words, much less the figure coming to stand beside her again, as she gazed at the golden silhouette currently bent over examining something on display. 

Her lungs stuttered and stomach flipped at the sight; how the sun glinted in envied rays off the honeysuckle strands tied back in a loose braid. She watched the vision straighten and smile with a demure gentleness at the vendor of the table, presumably exchanging pleasantries between them as she took a moment to speak. Lexa’s eyes zeroed in on her newly revealed face; the soft fullness and glow of porcelain skin topped with the gentlest of blonde brows. 

Lexa was accustomed to her fair share of enticing women, but this one... this one was different.

“Which has caught your attention now?” came the amused voice beside her, Lexa blinking several times as she came back to herself. 

Her eyes flitted between the angelic figure and her newly rediscovered kin at her side. “Must you really ask?” she said in quiet awe, as though it were surely obvious for all to see.

“There’s a half dozen women down that way, Lexa. With your fickle eye? Yes, I must ask.”

“The breathtaking one, you goat, look.”

Anya snickered after following her line of sight, chuckling into the ball of her fist when Lexa turned with a scowl. “... _Oh._ Oh no."

“What?” she demanded before immediately looking back, melting at the sight of swaying hips as the stranger moved along to the next display of goods for sale.

“Your intended conquest, if you’re referring to that blonde one-”

“Don’t describe her like that,” Lexa snapped. “She is not a saddle in some whorehouse.”

Rolling her eyes at the ~~dramatics~~ romanticism of her cousin and friend, Anya sighed, patting Lexa on the back consolingly. “Yes, yes. Well, despite her _unequivocal radiance,”_ she supplied sardonically, “I assure you, she is not the one meant to be on the receiving end of your... cupid’s arrow.”

“What are you talking about?” Lexa shook her head, turning to look at her fully with a frown.

"I'm not particularly inclined to start anything here, but..."

"Spit it out," Lexa droned.

With a grin Anya tucked her fingers into the fold of her doublet as she took a few lazy steps around her. "Someone's testy."

"Well I'd rather like to go introduce myself," she said as her eyes followed the perplexingly amused woman as she circled. "If that's quite alright with you, my liege."

"It's not," Anya started with a blasé sort of boredom. "Because the thing about her is she's-"

"Gone," Lexa cut in, her gaze having shifted beyond the taller woman's shoulder, lifting up onto her tiptoes to find the street bare of the beauty from before. "Where did she go?"

"Listen to me, it doesn't matter because I'm trying to-"

"Damn you, Anya," she gritted crossly, shoving past her cousin as she took off down the side street. She ignored the shouts of her name that trailed after her as she weaved in and out of those milling through the market. 

Cursing herself for having allowed her idiot friend to distract her, Lexa tossed apologies and 'excuse me's every which way as she did her best not to bowl people over. 

On a lark, Lexa skidded to a stop in front of the stall where she had first laid eyes on the vision, darting over to the owner of the small smattering of casted jewelry on display. "Hello, good eve," she rushed out, hand already digging into her pocket to grab her purse. "There was a woman here a moment ago. Blonde hair, exceedingly beautiful. What was she looking at?"

"Oh, um," the slightly surprised shopkeeper fumbled, weathered hands pointing to a golden medallion and chain. "T-This one here. She didn't have enough on her person to purchase-"

Smiling to herself as the familiar seal made her heart twist in delighted shock, Lexa nodded eagerly and dipped her fingers into the velvet bundle heavy with coin. "Perfect. How much?"

_______________________________

In retrospect she would feel a bit bad for practically throwing the money at the man before snatching up the item to continue her pursuit. 

She would. 

But as she reached the end of the stone lined road and rounded the corner, all other thoughts fled immediately from her mind as she hurriedly scanned the bustling crowd. 

Eyes zeroed in on a small glimpse of sun soaked wheat a distance away, her feet propelling her forward before she could lose it in the chaos of the day. The shoppers around her thinned, as she intently wove down the road, Lexa silently thanking the Lord when she was able to speed up her pace again. 

Finally gaining on her in earnest, Lexa hastily shoved the intended present and mostly empty purse back into her breast pocket, doing her best to push the wild mane of hair from her face as she rapidly neared. 

She didn't wish to look _crazy_ after all. 

“M’lady!” Lexa burst out as she drew even, rather gracelessly rounding in front of the woman… and startling her enough to very literally jump on the spot. 

Fumbling to explain her sudden appearance, Lexa tried desperately to be cool, calm, and collected as she wheezed out a sputtering of words. 

“I-... I wa-... I-,” she puffed and failed miserably, hands gesticulating uselessly before eventually admitting defeat. Holding up a pointer finger in surrender, Lexa brought the other hand down to lean on her hip and took a moment to recover.

The goddess stared at her in confusion, eyes wide and apprehensive as they surveyed the full panting state of her. If oxygen hadn’t already been an issue, Lexa was sure the very breath of her would have run away alongside her heart at the intensity of their shade.

She was gorgeous up close, more so than Lexa had even expected. From so far away she hadn’t been privy to the intricacies that made up such a face. She struggled not to blatantly stare quite so ardently upon such a first meeting, but it was in that moment that Lexa understood perfectly why they were referred to as beauty marks at all. 

The way it dotted so lovingly a pair of rubied lips was entrancing, though even their rich fullness paled in comparison to the deep astral ocean of those eyes. She knew the very sky she had only just been heralding in gloriation, must contract in jealous envy at the sight of the twin universes.

Star laced universes currently regarding her as though she had quite obviously lost her mind.

"Is… there something I may... assist you with?" the angel asked in a halting and confused tone.

Smiling softly at the sweet smoke of her voice, Lexa felt her heart thunder louder despite finally having gotten control of her general faculties. Clearing her throat lightly she straightened herself, then bowed gracefully at the waist with a hand resting neatly across the small of her back. 

"No, m'lady," she assured and leaned back up, eyes locking on questioning blue that only served to make her smile grow. "I… I wished to introduce myself. I saw you back there and I-… I simply could not keep myself from knowing you a moment longer."

The blonde brow lifted, pink dusting the fullness of her cheeks as the woman expelled a rather amused breath. 

"... I beg your pardon?"

"Yes," Lexa asserted confidently with a nod, relaxing a bit despite the nerves wriggling within. "I thought it a shame- a grave error, really… that I have spent nineteen summers on this earth, and have only now seen the most beautiful woman in the entirety of the realm."

Not her best, but she was working on the fly.

A husky tittering laugh leapt from those lips, the timbre belying the woman's obvious disbelief and causing Lexa's ears to spike red. "Well I'll give you this, that's certainly one I have not heard before." Pearly white teeth flashed as she shook her head ruefully. 

"I pride myself on being unforgettable in that way." Lexa smirked at the amused guffaw, chest puffing slightly as she held out a hand. "I'm Lexa. And incredibly charmed to meet you."

The woman's piercing eyes trailed from her face to the outstretched hand, only a twitch to rose lined lips betraying any hesitancy. Apparently coming to a decision, she lifted her hand and tucked her fingers around the top of Lexa's own.

"I'm Clarke… And still wildly confused as to what exactly is happening."

Smiling with her best approximation debonair, Lexa leaned forward and pressed her lips to delicate knuckles. Grinning at the small intake of surprised air, she righted herself and brushed her thumb over the kiss, as though to seal it in place. "It is wonderful to meet you, Clarke."

Clarke flushed and chuckled out, yet pleasantly still allowed the gentle hold to continue. "You certainly take liberties, don't you."

"Only with such things that my heart truly desires."

At that the woman, _Clarke,_ pulled away to glance flustered at the few people obliviously carrying on around them. "That- You- Are you always so-"

"Charming?" Lexa supplied and smirked. "Intriguing? _Morish?"_

"I was going to say forward, but now I change my question to arrogant."

"It is not arrogance… or, rather not unjust arrogance. I work for the things I wish to be worthy of. And as of right now, Clarke… there is little more I want than to be worthy of being in your favor."

Clarke eyed her wearily though her lips ticked up at the mild flirtation. "Is that right?"

"Yes," Lexa said with determined honesty, a small soft grin lighting her face. "I know a deity when I see one, and she should not be subjected to walking among us without being rightfully worshipped."

"Tell me, does this work on others? Do women usually faint at these gusts of hot air?"

A genuine laugh rumbled through her, a certain thrill zinging in her chest at so blatantly being matched in wit and candor. "Apologies, m'lady. It seems you bring out the poet in me."

"Poets are but lovers and dreamers, and dreamers often lie."

"I shiver to hear your opinion on lovers," Lexa grinned, noticing with delight when eyes flickered down to the lip she had trapped between her teeth.

"... That one… remains to be seen." Clarke swallowed and blinked her attention away. 

"Are you free?" Lexa asked suddenly, seizing the moment before it could break entirely. "Or do you have appointments to tend to?"

"... No," Clarke hummed after a beat of silence. "I was only perusing… Wasting time, really."

"Well then, why not waste the time with me?" Lexa smiled fuller, stepping forward and offering her arm.

"Mmm… I don't have much time before I'm expected home."

Lexa nodded easily. "A stroll about town it is. You may malign my inept attempts at amorous prose to your heart's content." 

"So what you're saying is, you're not going to stop?"

"Ha, not even a little."

"Hasn't your father ever warned you against the dangers of wandering off with a stranger?" Clarke asked, even as she slowly hooked a hand over the crook of the offered arm.

Warming from her head to her toes at the contact, despite how perfectly chaste it was, Lexa tempered the beaming smile that threatened to burst across her face as she led them off along the lane. "He has in fact… Why? Are you saying I should be afraid of you, Clarke?"

Clarke merely shrugged, lips curled softly and goading. 

"More afraid than I of you."

_____________________________

"You did not."

"I did."

"Though I do not doubt your bravery, m'lady, I believe it is you who is now the dreamer," Lexa teased lightly, shaking her head incredulously. 

She laughed and strolled on, just as they had been for the last hour, circling and wandering aimlessly while talking about anything that came to mind. The sun had begun to set, though Lexa did her best to keep the woman talking, soaking in the sound of her voice as she milked the afternoon for every minute she could stretch.

"I swear it," Clarke stressed, "and I wouldn't exactly call it 'bravery'. Stupidity comes more readily to mind. But in my sole defense, the thing was only the size of a small horse. Riding it seemed entirely logical… At least it did to eight year old me."

"And you came away unscathed?"

"More or less, a few bumps and bruises, though mostly to my pride... My mother was furious with me for ages," Clarke sighed, leaning just a touch into the woman at her side. "Not that I allowed that to bother me. A small price to pay in exchange for adventure."

Lexa welcomed it all, the contact and the stories and the gentle exchanges of smiles. It was peaceful. And felt private, despite the others who lingered about. Resting her hand softly over the one tucked in her arm, Lexa looked over through the low hang of her lashes. "You are an impressive one," she hummed, warmth and affection coating her words. "... Not that I'm surprised. Scaling beasts and living to tell the tale?... It all makes sense to me now."

"Oh? Do I give off the air of scoundrel? A ne'er do well of society?" Clarke teased, tongue poking through pearly teeth for a second.

"... No," she whispered, the grin slowly falling from her lips as the air around them grew thick. As much as she tried, Lexa was powerless against her besotted look. "I just had a feeling when I met you, that you would be unlike any other I'd known… I'm thankful that I'm lucky enough to have found you."

Clarke flushed at that, eyes fluttering closed in seeming amused resignation as Lexa made good on her word yet again. But honestly, she wasn't even trying anymore. No facades, no filters, no sweet words with the goal of seduction in mind.

She simply enjoyed her, enjoyed Clarke. Enjoyed her laugh and her smile and her spark. She was tenacious and quick, yet kind and humble, and sure of herself in ways that burned Lexa alive.

And Lexa hoped beyond all else that Clarke believed that, believed her; wished Clarke saw with perfect clarity how genuinely wonderful she thought she was.

Moments slipped passed as they fell into comfortable silence, Lexa's stomach twisting as she felt the inevitable end of their time drawing close. Fumbling for an excuse to prolong their afternoon, she opened her mouth to-

"Would you," Clarke started abruptly as she pulled them to a stop. "What I mean is… The day is nearly over and I do really need to be going. Truly I should've left some time ago. But I wondered… Today was so lovely. And while I _was_ correct about the arrogance," she rolled her eyes, "... you were quite right about the charm. Irritatingly so."

Lexa earned another roll of sapphire eyes at her triumphant lift of her chin in response to the softly spoken words. 

"Stop that," Clarke continued much firmer. "… But, what I'm saying is… do you think perhaps you might like to do this again?"

"Yes," Lexa answered before the words were even fully out of her mouth. "With every breath, yes. Name the time and place."

"Tomorrow? I'm, I'm free in the evening."

"Where should I meet you?"

"The rose garden between the chapel and Capulet estate? It's beautiful there, and unlikely that we'll be disturbed… Not that I mean that to sound forward, I only meant it would mean we could have privacy. Not implying that we should require privacy-"

Placing a finger over babbling lips to stem the spiraling flow, Lexa grinned softly into wide blue eyes. "I will meet you there," she cut in soothingly, not giving a thought to anything other than how adorable the woman truly was when flustered. 

"Oh. Good," Clarke nodded when Lexa drew back, eyes darting down and then back up. "That's- Good… Then I shall be going. Quickly, actually. But I will see you tomorrow. Before sunset. I look forward to it."

"I wish it were 'morrow already."

With that, Clarke squeezed the arm in her grip and broke away, sending a small wave and a smile as she started the presumed trek home. 

Slumping against the stone wall beside her, Lexa stared love drunk at the receding figure, smiling like an absolute idiot when she spied the woman peek back for a final glimpse of her as she turned down a side lane.

"Having fun?"

Lexa jumped a foot at the droll question spoken directly into her ear. 

"What in God's name are you doing here?" she demanded, rounding on her cousin after violently shouldering her away. 

"Following you, you idiot. I've _been_ following you to try and get a moment's breath of time alone with you since you ran off."

"What? Why?" she asked in horrified confusion, mind going over the last hour of their time together. "You've been following us this whole time?"

"Yes, you dolt," Anya huffed, flicking Lexa squarely on the forehead. "You ran off before I could warn you."

"About what?"

"Do you really have no clue who you've been canoodling with over the last hour?"

"Of course I do," Lexa snapped indignantly. "Her name is Clarke."

Anya stared at her expectantly, as though she were very, very stupid.

_"What?"_

Sighing heavily, Anya pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. "This is who is going to carry the family name… Does the name Clarke truly not ring a bell?"

Lexa thought for a moment before answering simply. "No."

Anya tossed her hands out to her sides in apparent exasperation. "Does she not remind you of anyone? Someone you've seen before?"

"Like who?"

"Does her fairness not remind thee of Costia?"

“Costia?” Lexa grimaced at the name and reared her head back. “She-... She has been gone from my mind and heart for longer than I can remember. No, God no, I saw no likeness between them. Why do you bring her up?”

“Because they do have likeness between them, _cousin,”_ Anya grinned darkly, almost a sneer.

“Well?” Lexa prompted after a moment.

“Clarke, like Costia, bears the name of Capulet.”

Lexa felt the name drop like a sledgehammer, knocking the wind from beneath newly sprouted wings with which her heart had taken flight. 

Her stomach plummeted as she wheeled about, staring at the corner around where the woman had disappeared from sight. Knees slacked as she relied on the stone for support, eyes looking but not seeing anything other than the riotous breaking of her own heart. 

_“... She’s a Capulet?”_

“The name 'Clarke' did not not bring any warning to your mind?”

“I’d assumed the heir’s name was referring to a man,” she gritted out, pressing a hand to her stomach as she felt a wave of nausea. "I… I didn't make the connection when she told me."

Lexa felt as though she wasn't comprehending the entire conversation, as though she were hearing it through a thickly settled fog. Her mind and heart warred against what it knew unrelentingly to be true of the family whom she hated (and who hated her) on principle alone… 

……… But then there was Clarke. 

The kindness that shone so brightly behind guarded eyes. The wit that lashed intoxicatingly from the tip of a silver tongue. She was lovely and _so_ beautiful and her grace intrinsic; Lexa felt at odds trying to reconcile that her deepest infatuation could possibly spring from her deepest seeded hate.

Just entertaining the notion was absurd. 

Clarke possessed none of the loathsome trappings of a _Capulet._

“This can't be right," she mumbled more to herself than anyone, though her words obviously drifting far enough for her cousin to hear.

"It is," Anya said blandly. "A friend of Lincoln's is one of her closest companions. I knew it was her from the moment I saw her."

 _"Our kith?..._ How have I never heard of this woman?" she demanded, feeling foolish and devastated at all once. "That 'Clarke Capulet' was a woman at all?"

"I believe the answer to that lies beneath a bountiful number of skirts."

Scowling at the crass (yet fair) response, Lexa shoved away from the wall where she had stood frozen since the revelation, her steps wandering and blind as she thought the matter over and over. 

"Should it truly matter?" she eventually wondered aloud. "These feuds and tidings of ill will I carry, I carry in name only. So if I were to remove the name, what is left for me to hate?"

"Lexa, you cannot be seriously considering this," Anya lowly tsked.

"What has she done other than be lovely?" Lexa demanded. "What trespass could you charge her with? Other than her name? We speak of civility and truces and yet condemn each other out of hand over a thing we cannot control."

"There is spilled blood between us and them, and more likely on the horizon. If you pursue this, what would you do should the day come when truces fold and you're called on by your people?"

Lexa's stomach churned at the thought. 

Brushing the notion away, she shook her head and continued. "You act as though these things are inevitable rather than fears based on prejudice. The absurdity of turning wary eyes upon the hope of true peace, to instead favor unwavering disdain? I won't be a party to it... I can't after knowing what I now know."

"Tsk... She has blinded you."

"She has opened my eyes," Lexa snapped and rounded on her kin. "We act out this play that has been written for us by our parents; a sick, perpetual game of one-up and revenge. They claim to want change and yet do nothing to actually attain it."

"She revealed all this to you in one afternoon?"

"Yes," Lexa quietly seethed at the drawled mockery. "The fact that I would have sworn to have hated her without ever getting a chance to experience her war-... her warmth," she said quieter, voice breaking softly as she let the memory wash over her, "... shows me how exactly ridiculous this all is. Do we not deserve to be more than two pawns in a match that will never see victory?"

Lexa stood silently under the stare of dark eyes, throat constricted and lodged with emotion but determined to remain quiet.

"And when you tire of her in three weeks time?" Anya eventually questioned, folding her arms across her chest with an unreadable look. 

"I won't."

"Ah yes, now I believe it. How silly of me before."

"I will speak to her and her alone, and we will figure out what we shall do."

"And if she turns you away for your name?

"She won't," Lexa firmly concluded. "You don't know her as I do. But until then, I will keep this to myself. Nor will you share this with anyone. If I wish to change these things, I have to do them silently… I mean it," she sternly stressed. "If one word of this-"

"What in God's name makes you think I would tell anyone?" Anya asked incredulously. "Do you have any idea the thanks I would receive from my father at hearing that I allowed the meeting at all? I'd be whipped for not using my arms as chains and anchoring you to the spot."

Oddly, that was comforting in how perversely true it was. And though she felt a small nagging bit of guilt at having dragged her cousin into this, Lexa nodded imperiously to reinforce that threat. 

"So no, I will not say a word," Anya went on, stepping menacingly forward until they were chest to chest, "but know this… I have every intention, every _right..._ of taunting you mercilessly to all who will hear when you grow weary of her. Or when this all blows up in your face."

Snorting in surprise, Lexa barked out a laugh, shoving her cousin away. "Go home. What I have already grown tired of is your face, certainly not Clarke's."

"We shall see," Anya declared, turning to walk away. "I wager this time next moon, Clarke will be but a distant dream."

"I take your wager," Lexa yelled back, "and raise you a marriage bed fit for I and she!"

"I have seen you, dear cousin," Anya called over her shoulder as she swaggered away. "Your heart works in candle marks. Eventually, her candle will be spent."

Which Lexa wished she could argue with, albeit the woman too far away by then to hear. Because the truth, sour as it may be, was her former heart had been capricious and fickle.

But Clarke, Clarke was someone you build your life around.

And she was determined to do just that. 

________________________________

Lexa was nervous as she neared the winding court of gardens, fingers turning over and under the small token in her pocket. Swallowing down her hesitancy and doubt, she hoisted herself up and over the field's divider, eyes firing to all quarters of the gated entrance despite knowing she was rightfully on neutral ground.

Seeing no one, Lexa breathed a sigh of relief, straightening her decadent waistcoat and taking off amongst the tall rows of blooms. The path curved in a slight winding pattern, Lexa's gaze curiously straying in glimpses to her right through the shrubbery, shockingly appreciating for the first time just how large the Capulet estate actually was. 

From most of what she'd heard, she had expected far less opulence than she herself was accustomed to. However, Lexa realized she shouldn't be particularly surprised this time at witnessing first hand her parent's distortion of facts. In her mind, she had known. She had known they were regarded alike in wealth and standing; but such evidence, beyond the grace of Clarke's gorgeous elegance, was revealing all the same.

It all served to strengthen her belief that the whole affair was nothing more than a childish sham.

"Lexa?"

Her heart tripped up at the sound of her name, attention snapping away from stone and wrought iron at the voice in the distance.

"Clarke?" she hushed out, swiveling in half circles.

"Over here," Lexa heard the call a bit louder, eyes falling on a fair, familiar hand waving around a bend. 

Lexa hurried her steps, rounding the thorns and buds with an air of excited urgency. But as she took in the down-turned posture, Lexa slowed her pace so as to not seem too eager. 

A fortifying breath and strangle of nerves later, she approached with a sly grin. "Clarke-"

"Was this some sort of game?

Lexa stopped short, dread thrumming through her as joints stiffened and locked in place.

"I don't know what you mean, Clarke-"

"-Capulet… My name, is Clarke Capulet… As I should have introduced myself sooner," Clarke confirmed as though she were charged with a crime, looking up at her with stony features. "... And you, I now know, are Alexandria Montague."

Lexa drew herself up with a bravado her soul did not feel. Praying for the best, yet fashioning an arsenal of defense, she breathed and braced for the worst. 

"... Hail and well met, Clarke Capulet."

"I didn't realize at first… I actually thought you were so-... Why didn't you tell me?" Clarke asked, her voice laced with pain and deception. 

"I didn't realize who you were," Lexa rushed to explain. "I-," she expelled on a strained and heavy breath at the disbelieving uptick of a blonde brow, "I had no idea. I knew the heir's name was-... but so foolishly I'd assumed without ever knowing, that you'd be a-... But then there was you and I-"

"And what?" Clarke finally asked after a moment of silence. 

Lexa softened with the weight of her own reverence. "... And I was so very enchanted by you... I had no idea who you were until my cousin informed me. Though I doubt it would've mattered if I did, because you're so... But I didn't know, Clarke. I swear it on my soul, I never would've deceived you. I _will_ never deceive you. Not then, not now."

Clarke smiled morosely up at her. "... For reasons beyond myself, I somehow already believed that." The woman shuffled over, tracing her hand over the bench in silent invitation for Lexa to sit. 

Lexa took her place with a heavy heart, immediately lacing her fingers together to rest her head against as she leaned forward. She sat in silence for a long while, strangely and simply enjoying being in Clarke's presence despite the torment at hand. 

"So… it was your cousin who figured me out?"

The oddly amused-sounding question caused Lexa to sit back, turning to catch cornfield blue with her own. "Yes," she answered, her words dark and low. "She knows you through our family friend, Lincoln-"

"-Who knows me through my friend, Octavia, yes." Clarke audibly sighed, her shoulders rising and falling despondently. "She who also happens to be the one who figured you out to me."

"So you did not know who I was either."

"No," Clarke confirmed despite it not really being a question. "I felt rather a fool after going on and on, only to find out who you were… Not that it-... It was just difficult, hearing what she had to say when she realized who my all together secret prospective… _suitor,_ had turned out to be."

Lexa's traitorous heart thumped at that, smiling affectionately despite herself. "And what exactly did she say?"

"Oh, she said plenty. Particularly, 'A Montague mongrel? Why in the world would you walk about with the like? Have you checked yourself for fleas?'," Clarke mocked in an unflatteringly nasal tone. 

Feathers thoroughly ruffled, Lexa grit her jaw as her eyes grew stormy, breathing deeply to swallow down a mordant retort. "... And what did you say to that?" she lowly seethed.

Smiling in exasperation, Clarke nudged the woman beside her with her shoulder. "Do you really think if I entertained her words in the slightest, I would be sat quite so close?"

Begrudgingly, Lexa nodded and relaxed. 

"I don't-" Clarke started and then stopped, wetting her lips for a moment before continuing in a silkenly soft manner. "I don't believe any of that, you realize?... Even before I met you, I still thought the whole business between our families was absurd. The cutting words and brutish brawls. Blood spilled for the most trivial of transgressions… And now, after knowing you… I hate it all the more."

Lexa shifted in her seat, turning to face Clarke more fully as she timidly reached for her hand, letting them rest together in Clarke's lap when the woman didn't pull away. "I cannot say I hadn't- that I had been immune to the maligning of your family name. I foolishly believed the lies. But now I realize," she rushed on, seeing the blonde brow crease in confused disappointment. "I see how wrong I have been. How wonderful, and kind, and enchanting a Capulet may be. For if someone as lovely as you has sprung from that family tree, then I know in my heart and soul that they are truly good."

"Lexa," Clarke huffed and grinned, fiddling with the fingers held in her own, "you barely know me."

"My heart knows you," she argued, dipping her head to catch bashful, disbelieving eyes. "I felt it from the very start… Call it infatuation or lust if you must, but know that with my entire being, there is nothing I wish more than to be near you. To spend time with you and learn all that you are… I want your thoughts and your reasonings and your laughter… and all your colors of fury. If you'll let me… I _want_ this, Clarke. I want _you,_ and that will never be stopped by a name."

Clarke regarded her closely. Lexa could feel the weight of the moment pressing against her breast, the wild thrumming of her heart tattooing the truth of her intentions to the inside notches of her ribs. She all but held her breath as the seconds roared on silently, swallowing roughly as she waited for the verdict to fall.

What she did not expect, however, was for Clarke to dart forward and gently capture her lips in a supple kiss.

Lexa hummed in joyous surprise, eyes slamming closed as her world was enveloped by sugared peach flavored warmth. Still grasping the delicate hand in one of her own, Lexa lifted the other to cup Clarke's jaw, thumb sweeping over the soft skin of her cheek and lobe.

Their lips slid slowly together with heart rending tenderness, Lexa feeling a surge in her chest as Clarke's mouth wrapped around her bottom lip and suckled. She swallowed a low moan at the gentle suction before pulling back. Trying to adjust with a light brush of her nose, Lexa moved to give herself over to the kiss; to deepen it, to explore it, to fill her every sense with Clarke… only to feel a steady hand pushed against her chest. 

"Wait," Clarke breathed.

Lexa's eyes flew open at that, drawing back instantly and dropping her hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Lexa, you did nothing wrong," Clarke shook her head, dazed and hooded eyes sliding open with a smile. _"I_ kissed _you."_

"Then why…" she trailed off.

After a moment of seeming to collect her senses, Clarke cleared her throat and shifted in her seat, doing her best in what appeared to be a struggle between looking Lexa in the eye and staring hungrily at her mouth. "I just… I wish to go slow… _er._ Slower than simply mauling each other in my family rose garden the second day of knowing one another, at least."

"Oh, well," Lexa said, nodding in conciliatory agreement. She was quiet for a moment before she couldn't help the twitch of her lips, eyes sliding down to the hands still folded together in Clarke's lap. "... Although, may I say, should the impulse to kiss me again ever arise, know you will find me more than accommodating."

Snorting derisively, Clarke flung the hand back to its now grinning owner. "You really can't help yourself, can you?"

"Around you? Emphatically not. You bring out the devil in me… But if it's any comfort, it is only due to how besotted I have already become with being the cause of this blush to your cheek."

She watched in delighted amusement as said pink flared brighter under the knuckle she ran over the tender apple of Clarke’s face. 

"Incorrigible," Clarke huffed, though leaned into the touch, nuzzling the hand slightly before it broke away. "I seem to bring out quite a lot in you. First poetry and now the devil, I'm eager to see what else I may inspire."

"The list is long of things you inspire within me," Lexa smirked, bending to press a light row of kisses along the slope of Clarke's jaw. "I would gladly show you the cause of your effect anytime you wish."

Groaning quietly, Clarke turned her face just enough to pluck a stolen kiss from wandering lips before pulling back to see her clearly. "You are hopeless-"

"For you."

"- But as much as you drive me absolutely mad… it would be a lie to say I don't somehow find you infuriatingly enamoring."

"And I find you enchanting," Lexa breathed into the small space between them. "I think I might very much adore you in fact."

_"Lexa."_

"I cannot help it," she defended. "There has yet to be a single thing about you I do not covet with my whole heart. And I only wish to discover more."

"This won't be easy, you realize," Clarke sighed. 

"Loving you will be the easiest thing I've ever done. Everyone else can mind their own."

"So you say until you or I have a sword at their throat."

"None will harm a hair on your head, I vow that as surely as my devotion… But, for now, we'll keep this between only us. I will be your protector, and lover, and your most ardent admirer from the shadows. For now, we will do what we must."

Clarke smiled at her warmly, sadly, leaning forward to rest their heads together. Lexa slipped her hand into the pocket of her waistcoat, nervously fisting the cool metal as she withdrew it from its confines. 

"Until then, until we may love freely, I wish for you to have this," she whispered after a moment, fingers unfurling to reveal the present she had kept safe. "A small token to carry through the days and nights of my absence; to remind you of the mountain that is my affection for you."

The woman sat back when she registered what she was seeing, wide eyes staring down. "How did you-"

"I saw you admiring it, and I could not stop myself… It proved to me- your interest in this, how connected we truly are." 

Turning her hand over, Lexa allowed the dying rays of the setting sun to glance off the signet that sat securely on her finger. 

"It is encouraged in my family," she explained softly, eyes locked onto the face gaping in surprise at the familiar design stamped into the gold, "for children to choose a design when they begin training… Usually girls are exempt but I- I rather tirelessly harried my father into allowing me the tradition."

Blue eyes finally snapped up to green, a breath of a laugh escaping her. "Why does that not surprise me in the slightest?"

Sheepish but agreeable, Lexa wobbled her head side to side in embarrassed amusement. "Yes, alright… but my point," she went on, "is that I chose this design myself. This will be my personal seal when I take over… I didn't realize artists would begin producing it already but… The fact that you chose it; that you were drawn to it at all… I don't think that was an accident, as happy as it may be."

"I don't know if that-... Doesn't that seem a bit farfetched?"

"Why did you choose it? What drew you to it?"

Lexa watched the woman swallow without ever looking away. "It felt powerful," Clarke whispered. "... I thought it was beautiful."

Nodding slightly, Lexa struggled to reign in a small watery smile, inhaling deeply as she undid the clasp. "And I think it would look beautiful on you. May I?"

"Do you really think this is wise?" Clarke questioned even as she gathered her hair to one side.

"No one other than my close family knows of its significance," she assured quietly, stepping around the woman and draping the chain over the top of her chest from behind. "All the craftsmen know is that our family commissioned a few things with the design… I would say I should have words with this crafter for arbitrarily reproducing it without authority, if it were not so breathtaking to see you bear my seal."

Smiling softly as she ran featherlight fingers over the metal sat on her chest, Clarke looked up and sighed. "I'll wear it with pride."

Lexa surged forward, wrapping the woman in flexing arms, fingers, and hands, staggering them both with the force of her joy. Lips swallowed the surprised gasp that burst out, Lexa's mouth kissing and pecking undeterred of the chuckling laugh. 

"L- Lexa!"

"I wish I could live inside the taste of your laugh."

"Calm yourself... this is most undignified," Clarke husked, finally controlling herself to meet plump lips kiss for kiss.

"I love feeling the press of my mouth to your teeth, is that strange?… I love it still, if only because they let me know I have succeeded in making you smile again."

Lexa felt hands slide into her hair, evening chilled fingers massaging as Clarke took control of the kiss. She let herself fall into the hold, enjoying giving over to grasping hands and chasing lips. Time passed without thought as they swayed together, Lexa drowning in everything Clarke while her lungs screamed out only for more.

"You should go," Clarke pulled back and panted, moaning quietly as lips fell instead to the skin of her throat. 

"Mmm," Lexa hummed, painting kisses along the column of her long neck and shoulder. "That sounds like a terrible idea… I think I should stay for a few more… hours."

Hands slipped to her arms and nudged, Lexa whining not at all pathetically as she peeled herself away. "The moon is drawing close and I am expected back… The last thing we need is to be happened upon-"

"Oh my, that does sound scandalous, doesn't it?"

Looking thoroughly unimpressed, Clarke dropped her hands and arched a brow. "You're going to make this whole thing harder than it needs to be, aren't you?"

"Harder? No," Lexa scrunched her nose before smirking. "A _slippery situation,_ perhaps-"

"Go home, Lex."

"Wait, no, I like that, call me that again."

"I have a feeling I'll be calling you many things in the future."

"As long as you always call me yours."

Clarke smiled in fond exasperation and pushed her, Lexa stumbling dramatically despite being on the receiving end of only a shove of fingertips. 

"Ow! The _violence_ of Capulets-"

"Go, Lexa. It is late and I need to be back."

"I am wounded," she sniffed in a lowered voice. "But I carry my scars with affection."

"You'll manage, I'm sure. Now, good evening to you."

"Until the morrow? I don't believe I can wait longer than that to see you," Lexa whispered at last, the game finally over as she backed further and further away. Forests caged within her heart and her eyes, she watched her bright angel soften and melt. "Tell me we'll meet here tomorrow, and I will count each moment as though it were a day."

Pale pink lips twisted and stretched, pressed and plumped, before a grin bloomed in its place as she watched Lexa walk away.

"...Tomorrow then, dear heart," Clarke breathed. "Same time, same place."

Lexa smiled brilliantly, plucking a rose as she passed to help carry her over. She brushed past furling vines bursting with blooms and buds, paying no mind to thorns or pollen or anything other than the vision of Clarke framed in shades of crimson, gold, and green. Vaulting the gate easily, Lexa tucked the blossom into her breast pocket and called as she turned to stroll away.

"Goodnight, my sweetest beauty! Sleep well, and dream of me."

She heard only the whisper of an answer drifting through the air at her back.

"... As if I could dream of anything else."  
  


♡

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up on tumblr @butmakeitgayblog if you'd like to see the Capulet/Montague moodboards or, ya know, just yell at me


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our gay af lovers rendezvous, in more ways than one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note the rating change!!! 
> 
> Picks back up from the night of the first chapter so a quick refresher might help get some of the conversational references. 
> 
> Special thanks as always to my beta, commander-leksa. She's diligent and keeps me from sounding too too stupid. Also she did amazing edits on the moodboard on tumblr @ butmakeitgayblog. Hope you like it 🤞
> 
> Thanks for reading and stay safe!

_ “Oomph." _

Clarke grunted apologetically as she adjusted from where she had flopped down, lifting her face from the delicate neck enough to kiss Lexa deeply as sweat slicked chests slid together with each labored breath. "... Sorry… I can't seem to feel my legs."

Arms tightened around her as she reached up to swipe away damp curls that clung to her lover's forehead, as the very picture of self-satisfaction tittered merrily back. "Mmm, I see… Then I should consider services rendered I suppose."

"So much for an 'honorable visit'," Clarke hummed agreeably, much to her own mutual condemnation. "... Speaking of services rendered," she drawled, walking her fingers over the ball of a strong but spindly shoulder as she eyed the strewn fabrics that littered her floor, "Remind me to never again seek your assistance in finding my way out of any article of clothing."

"... Well then. For the sake of your garment spendings," Lexa breathed with the inflection that the thought was entirely reasonable while tracing her hand lazily over the arm stretched across her chest, "I propose you simply forgo clothing altogether."

"You'd have me walk about the castle and villages nude?" Clarke chuckled and leaned up, very primly tucking a chestnut curl behind the tiniest of ears. "You'd be content with the knowledge of eyes knowing me intimately?"

Lexa pursed her lips at that, staying silent for a moment before shrugging lazily. "I'll sacrifice my jealousy to the victory of keeping you near and ever...  _ ready." _

"You're perverse."

"You love me," Lexa said, teeth nipping and lightly trapping the finger that poked at her lips, before releasing it with a whisper of a kiss. 

"Unfortunately," Clarke sighed in contentment against her, not having the strength to continue with the ridiculous woman. She laid her head back down, nose burrowing into soft skin beneath her. Rubbing her thighs together in satiated comfort under the sheet draped over their hips, Clarke relished in the delicious residual ache from their earlier activities.

These were the moments that kept her heart beating day after day; the moments when they chased away the feelings of danger and regret for their situation in the gentle hold of each other’s arms. Clarke wished every night could be such as this, rather than sequences from a stolen life; grasping with both hands to the simmering hope that this could and would be their reality, if Lexa's promises of 'someday' should prove true. 

... But… there  _ was _ something a bit enchanting to the whole affair, as loathe as she was to admit. 

These nights spent surrendered to a love anointed by none but God and the moon itself made her feel alive in ways she hadn't contemplated before. The twist that struck her heart each evening her ears caught the rap of knuckles against the pane of her window; how she had grown to adore the sound, as much as the first time had frightened her nearly half to death. 

"What fair thought has my lover pressing smiles to the side of my breast?" Lexa asked quietly into strands of gold beneath her lips. "... Or does the answer lie within the question itself?"

Snorting at the teasing lilt, Clarke's head flew up again to scoff amusedly at Lexa's smirking face. "How does the weight of your vanity not break your very back?"

"I mean..." she trailed off, eyes wandering the lay of her own body with an impish quirk to her brow.

Rolling her eyes, Clarke pinched the admittedly trim waist, jostling along as the woman squirmed away from the offending digits and further into her hold. "No," she said in a droll tone, "that's not what I-... You preen enough over yourself; you require very little from me."

"And yet, I want all of you entirely to myself... My selfishness truly knows no bounds," Lexa hummed serenely as Clarke tsked and relaxed back down. 

"... I was actually thinking about the first time you came to me," she murmured after a moment. "My heart nearly failed at the sight of you outside my window."

"Understandable. I am exceptionally dashing."

"You nearly fell on your face as you tried to climb in."

"I was nervous," Lexa cried, dramatically flinging her arms out across the expanse of the bed. "What should one expect from a mere mortal when calling upon an angel? I was lucky to not faint and fall from the trellis at the first vision of you in your evening gown."

A quiet laugh bubbled in Clarke's throat as she recalled the evening in question. 

"I wonder, why have I never been invited to your chambers?" Clarke asked absently as lithe fingers moved to toy with her own. 

A low hum of content shimmered in the air around her. "It is easier for me to slip out; father is long used to my ways."

At that, Clarke cocked an exceedingly unimpressed brow and leaned up on her elbow.  _ "Used to your ways? _ Is that really the way you're choosing to play this?"

Lexa had the decency to look a bit sheepish, a rare blush coloring the tops of her cheeks as her eyes danced to the side. "Yes, well… In the past sense of ways, of course. I'm-... Yours is the only attention I seek… And in any case, it serves us splendidly... Perhaps fate is at play, when you truly think. For now I may come and go as I please, to see the only subject of my affection and devotion, with none being the wiser."

Clarke simply shook her head in flat, stoney dismay. "You're not nearly as slick as you think."

"I have no intentions of being slick," she frowned… before a devilish smirk slid across her lips-

"Don't."

Seeming to deflate at the command, Lexa pouted and sighed dramatically while very smartly leaving it at that. She continued tracing small hidden figures upon Clarke's skin, words and prayers and offerings of devotion burning goosebump-inducing pathways curling up and down her spine.

"... You really were quite taken with me though. That first night... So eager," Lexa teased, "I had expected the need to weep in order to get you to join with me."

Grimacing, Clarke looked up. "The way you make that sound-"

"I wanted to be yours. Desperately," she cut in again with a lethargic flick of her fingers toward the ceiling, the words and tone as plain as if they were simply discussing the weather. "I wanted to immerse myself in you. My heart and soul belonged to you even then… my body yearned to join them."

Softening slightly, Clarke still narrowed her gaze at the perennially sweet talking woman. But soulful eyes gazed back unwaveringly, a small curl of a smile gracing her love drunk face.

"Surely by now you must know, Clarke… I have never sought to take anything from you. Never looked to you for what you may offer, nor have to give," she said, smiling, softly, sliding and locking their fingers in and out of one another's hold. "I only ever wished to make your heart and life fuller… That night, and every night after. I pray you accept my offerings, despite how small they are in comparison to what you give me."

Heart thrumming loudly in her ears, Clarke swallowed down a watery smile as she rested her palm on an equally wildly beating heart. "I wish I could truly name the ways in which I love you."

"Never worry about that," Lexa breathed with a kiss. "You show me every day… I worship you; the temple of you, and I, your devout parishioner. A slave to the call of my deity, I am bound by this love so wholly that I crave the weight of its chains… I crave the weight of  _ you." _

And Clarke almost hated it, the way the woman could always so effortlessly put her soul and mind at ease. How she made her feel safe and taken care of, and reassured her that she felt the same. That as lovers and friends, they shared the burden of their want.

"Although," Lexa continued with only a hint of waver. "There is one thing you may do for me."

"Oh?" she smiled back. "Tell me, kind slave, what is it you require?"

Swallowing lightly, Lexa shrugged her free shoulder and caressed gentle fingers through sweat darkened blonde locks. "You could honor me… by marrying me."

Guffawing in dismissal and the abject hilarity of the notion, Clarke smiled and rolled eyes and relaxed back down. "I'm sure."

"... Why do you dismiss me?" she heard whispered above her. 

"Dismissal of your poor attempt at humor, never of you."

"No, Clarke. I'm not- I very much wish to marry you."

"Stop, Lex."

"... Do you not wish to have me?"

Clarke twisted until she could face her properly, hearing the pained cadence of Lexa's slow question. "It has nothing to do with what I may or may not wish for. It is what's impossible… We can't. No courtier would recognize us or speak in our favor. No law would be kind to us."

"... Then... I shall change the laws," Lexa declared quietly with a defiant lift of her chin, the wild glint of her eyes shining brighter with each passing word. "I will."

"Is that so?" Clarke smiled.

"Yes."

"And how would you suppose to do that?"

"As I do everything," she said with swelling confidence. "Sword in hand... And- and I will... storm the very halls of the throne," she continued haltingly as the plan seemed to form in her mind as she spoke; her voice rising with each movement as she lifted herself out from under Clarke and up onto her knees, shoulders set and posture exuding the brittle air of a warrior.

Well.

Despite the abundance of her nudity.

Clarke could only relax back into the pillows, staring lovingly bemused up at the ridiculous display. "Just like that?"

_ "Yes."  _ Awkwardly fumbling to her feet on the shifting mattress, Lexa struck a most breathtaking pose of strength, poise, and gallantry. "By my will and strength of heart alone, our love  _ will _ be official law one day." Chin lifted high, chest puffed in pomp and pride, Lexa gazed down in a steely show of power. "I swear it."

"... Hmmm," Clarke mused after a moment of quivering silence, hands folded across her waist in appraising contemplation. "I suppose you do strike quite an impressive and...  _ persuasive _ figure."

"I do?"

"No."

The smug grin fell faster than it had sprung, fists falling from hips in a showing of thorough disgruntlement at the deadpan response.

"Get down here, you naked, foolish woman," Clarke giggled at the theatrics, breaking the seriousness to dart forward, hooking fingers behind muscled thighs and tugging swiftly. 

With questionably less grace than her ascent, Lexa wobbled and collapsed in a tangle of limbs, hands, and knees, barely catching herself before she could face plant into Clarke's chest entirely.

Scowling playfully, Lexa shuffled to adjust them, hitching one of Clarke's legs over her waist as she relaxed into the cradle of Clarke's hips with a huff. "That was terribly rude."

"While I do  _ personally _ find your breasts most persuasive, I am hard pressed to envision you storming anywhere naked beyond my chambers and not being bound like a madwoman."

"You underestimate me, good lady. The glory of my breasts alone could move mountains-"

"Lexa," Clarke chortled. "By size alone I'd wager molehills at best."

With a shocked gasp of laughter, Lexa pinched at Clarke's side in rebuke. "Uncalled for!.. I'm beginning to see the necessity of this whole feud business. You lot are appallingly insulting," she sniffled.

"An innocent observation, my darling… Besides," Clarke continued with a cheeky grin, "we both know quite well which of your many attributes I regard with favor."

Rolling her eyes in lieu of a response to the clap and squeeze of her backside, Lexa grumpily leaned forward for a soft press of her lips.

And then another.

And then one more for good measure. 

Clarke lived inside of these small moments; the small kisses and affections, the drunken feeling when Lexa seemed unable to ever leave it at just one. 

"Marry me," Lexa breathed again between long draws to pliant lips. "I'll be the wife to rival all wives, I swear it. I'm tired of waiting, and really mmmm… what can they argue with a holy order sealing its bond?"

Clarke laughed as she turned her face away, eventually needing to push the woman back to gain her attention. "Oh, yes, let us run to the chapel now… But alas, who would marry us?"

"Friar Laurence," Lexa said simply. 

Clarke stared at her blankly, save for the lift of a disbelieving blonde brow.

"He will, I have already asked and he-"

"You did  _ what?" _ Clarke rushed out, shooting up from her pillow. 

"I asked him," Lexa frowned as she sat up as well, scooting back closer from where she'd been dislodged to recover the intimate hold. Pressing light kisses to the curve of Clarke's shoulder, she wrapped her arms around the slim waist. "I've wanted to marry you from the moment I first saw you; what could possibly make you think I would not find a way?"

"But you just- the  _ law-" _

"Perhaps it will not be the kind a royal court would honor, but in God's eyes our love would be sealed all the same. And with your family and mine, and the way in which they work, have you doubt that they would dare renounce a holy decree?"

"We're women," Clarke huffed. 

"As if I should forget." Lexa grinned with a Cheshire twist of lips, and bent to dust small marks across Clarke's breasts. "... But he agreed that he saw very few ways forward. That a union would be the only hope for true peace between our families. As… peculiar as it may be."

Clarke exhaled a weakened sigh as the warm wet mouth suckled at her skin. "I don't-... understand... When would this even take place?" she asked, breath hitching as hands and lips clouded the jumbled thoughts in her mind. 

"Whenever you wish," Lexa guided her down, cradling her head to the pillow as she slid back between welcoming thighs. "A week, a month… tomorrow."

Laughing at that, Clarke's heart thundered as Lexa swooped up to kiss the merriment painted on her lips. "This just feels so sudden… You're sure this is what you want?"

The ghost of a small smile pulled at the corners of Lexa's mouth as she gazed down at Clarke, eyes tracing and mapping her face with adored reverence. "As sure as I am of the moon, my love... I have taken you as my goddess, I pray only to thee for the rest of my days... Within me you have raised a temple, and all that exists of happiness is to worship in rapture on bended knees for your and thine own desecration."

Clarke hummed as fingers danced an incendiary path across the jut of her hips, chasing the syrupy words from bee stung lips and her body moved in time. "When put like that, may I pray for our holy ruin."

"So then say yes. And marry me. "

Gasping her words, Clarke moaned and twisted under the play of her lover's mouth. "... Of course it's yes, Lexa. I love you."

"And I love you. And I will make you so very happy," Lexa breathed into her as praying hands found their sinful mark.

_______________________________

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

Clarke nervously ran her hands over the tight wrapping of her corset, eyeing herself in the dim reflection of the window. The setting sun cast fiery light over the horizon in front of her, its fuchsia and amber burnt rays bleeding into the shimmering flicker of candlelight around her. 

She fluffed and straightened her skirts, needlessly and for approximately the hundredth time in the span of the last handful of moments. The swish and bustle of the flowing blue dress helped to drown out the thudding of her own anxious heart.

"I can't either. And yet."

Gritting her jaw at the drawled response, Clarke simply raised her chin and adjusted the gold seal that laid familiarly against her chest. "It'll be good to wear this in public again. I feel so bare without it."

She was met with stony silence.

Releasing a long sigh, Clarke moved to sit heavily on the small stool on the other side of the room. "I can feel the bite of your words already and I have no interest in entertaining them again."

"I am simply saying-"

"I  _ know _ what you have said, I have heard you, and am asking you to support me nonetheless."

"She's just so infuriating."

"She's kind, and good, and takes gentle care with my heart. All you see is the mask of arrogance but I assure you, it is a facade. You don't know her as I do."

"As half of fairer Verona knows her from what I understand."

Clarke slapped a hand down on the table in boiled over frustration. "I swear to the holy Lord above, if you do not retire-"

"Alright, alright," the woman huffed, uncrossing her arms from her chest. "I just… I care. I'm your friend-"

"Then as my friend should you not be happy for me instead of trying to poison me against her?" Clarke wheeled around in her seat in front of the table, eyes looking angrily, beseechingly, up. "I have spent my entire life in the service of my parents and for once,  _ for once, _ I have the chance to be truly free of it. To have what I  _ want _ ... You have your Lincoln, your best friend by your side, and yet you wish to deny me mine? You care more about this senseless hostility than my own happiness? I thought you loved me better."

Octavia's shoulders slumped at the words. She guiltily shook her head after a long silent moment, though not without a stubborn roll of her eyes. "No… I'm sorry. I just worry… But I'm, I'm here for you. I promise.”

Clarke eyed her warily before returning a small forgiving nod. “Thank you.”

“So… What do you require from me?"

Turning back around, Clarke released a steadying breath as she looked over the items before her. "Could you?" she asked, holding up the delicate twining ring of gold.

"This is rather a statement, don't you think?" Octavia teased with a grin even as she stepped forward and plucked the band from her fingers and started fitting it on the crown of blonde locks. 

"I know but... she always calls me her angel," Clarke hummed, eyes drifting closed at the familiar feeling of her friend lacing small braids through her hair, securing the swirling leaves of laurel and holly in place, the speed and pattern belaying years of the practiced movements. "I thought she'd appreciate it… How I wish time would hurry. I haven't seen her all day."

A small snort had Clarke scowling upward at the smirking face that dipped over her shoulder. "Never mind, I see you’re perfect for each other.”

Laughing in confusion, Clarke couldn’t help but ask, “Oh? Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Simple,” Octavia teased and scrunched her nose. “With as lovesick as you are for each other in less than a days absence, obviously you're both quite revoltingly enamored."

____________________________

"Give us a spin!"

"No, make it a  _ twirl!" _

"Someone fetch a rousing powder for her future bride right now!"

"Enough," Lexa yelled in a laugh, cutting off the idiocy of her friends as anxious hands smoothed over the many non-existent wrinkles of her outfit. 

Swallowing roughly, Lexa adjusted the circlet on the crown of her head, gazing down at the intricate gold and crimson design stitched across her chest before nervously looking back up. "So? What do you think?"

"That you look quite like a cuck."

"Desist, Anya," Lincoln drawled with a smile, shoving the offender none-to-gently before stepping closer to rest large comforting hands on Lexa's shoulders. "You look beautiful… The red certainly suits you."

"Really?" she exhaled in relief. "I thought- well, I wanted to show her how serious I am. How I see her family as my family now too, as much as she will also be Montague."

"I think it's lovely, and I know it'll mean so very much to her."

"I can't wait to see the look upon dear Octavia's face," Anya wickedly added from where she had settled on one of the chairs in the corner. “We may well have one new widower to add to our ranks before this night is through... Lucky we're in a church...”

The friends stared at each other in a silent look of exasperation before breaking apart, Lexa moving over to grab the ornate box that sat on the small dressing table. "Lincoln, speaking of your wife, she's-”

“Here,” came a voice after a swift rapping knock that effectively cut off Lexa’s words. She turned to see a now familiar face pop through the cracked open door, straightening as brown eyes landed on her. Eyes that widened minutely at the sight of Lexa in the Capulet colors. “She's he-... Well… Look at that.”

“Is everything alright?” Lexa prompted, hoping to break the rather awkward tableau. “Is something wrong with Clarke?”

Blinking a few times, Octavia shook her head reassuringly and waved a hand in dismissal. “No no, she’s perfectly well. And just about ready, in fact, so I'd thought to let you know… Also, I believe Friar Laurence is becoming rather restless, so we all might wish to hurry this along.”

Sucking in a sharp breath, Lexa nodded intently, stepping forward to hand over one of the silver bands from the box. “Yes, of course. Here, this is for Clarke, and I have mine. And… And please, tell her I miss her. I can’t wait to see her. And marry her. And-”

“Eh, y-yes, I shall pass along the general message,” Octavia cut off, grabbing the ring from her hand with another roll of her eyes. “Just be at the end of the aisle and I’ll see to it she meets you there.” With that she moved back out of the room, closing the door with a snap and rather loudly muttered,  _ “Every five minutes with these two.” _

At the sound of a soft snicker, Lexa turned on her heel, leveling her two friends with a flat look of annoyance. “You put up with that every day?”

With a smile and shrug, Lincoln stepped forward and took the box with the remaining ring in his hand. “She is decidedly a lot, but alas, she is mine. And soon you will have your own to deal with. Eventually you'll learn we're all merely along for the adventure.”

“Well, this has been ghastly,” Anya announced airily, slapping her hands to her thighs with a groan as she stood. “But I believe it is time we should go.”

_________________________________

“Brothers and sisters in faith and good will, we gather on this blessed eve to bring to fruition, that which God has sowed.”

Drunken on the vision before her, Lexa's heart bounded with a calm sense of clarity she had never known. She struggled against her instincts; instincts to hold and touch and show woefully inadequate acts of reverence. The world had fallen away as she stood in frozen disbelief as Clarke, her wife, her angel of this realm, had slowly walked toward her down the aisle. 

Golds and blues flared in wavering darkness, under the swaying cast of shadows as Clarke glided past rows of candlelit pews. Lexa had trembled, stood red in the face, body brimming with poorly contained emotion as Clarke took her place beside her, grinning to each other when the very air swelled and quieted as they closed the final steps to settle at the foot of the altar.

A small sprig of hastily acquired baby's breath and lavender sat clutched in delicate fingers, the melding of their families colors causing a warmth to erupt at first sight. Lexa smiled, watery and wet and hopelessly unrestrained despite knowing the jeering from her cousin she would have to endure in days to come. 

But the equally enamored look she received in return gave her strength not to care. 

The Friar's dulcet voice echoed through the mostly empty cathedral again, his words solemn and forceful as it broke her out of her reverie.

"Where violence wages violence, and loathsome acts portray as righteous means, love has taken hold. Where fragile truces meet bloodied tradition, we break bonds to gather here in witness of this holy union. Pray thee and rejoice in this occasion. For all here agree; the true nature of sin is not the joining of these two souls, alike in love and sacrament, but the everlasting tip of a knife's edge awaiting to take hold. Heed warning; trust thy love. For what it is, and what it is not. Honor it, and nurture it, steadily and unyielding."

Lexa and Clarke each nodded in turn, hands squeezing tightly in silent vows between them.

"Alexandria," he continued, turning to her as she accepted the ring from Lincoln. "Do you take this oath of eternity, and in so swearing, you choose to love and hold dear the name Capulet as tenderly as your own?"

"I do."

The words rang out, whispered and strong and meant only for them, as she slipped the band on a slightly trembling finger.

"And do you, Clarke, accept and return this oath? To measure your riches and splendor in the wealth of these promises? To carrying the name Montague as close to your heart as your own?"

"I do." 

Lexa recaptured her hold as soon as the ring was in place, unable to stop her feet from inching a few steps forward. 

"Let no hand put asunder these sacred vows, a declaration of peace and good tidings. Love fully, but gently, and enduringly. In His name, Amen."

Before Lexa could move on her own to empty the space in between, Clarke yanked her forward into the press of a smiling kiss to full surprised lips. Her stumbled steps gave way to clasp hands as arms slung around her shoulders and pulled tighter in a clutching embrace. 

And she melted into the feel of it all. 

The feeling of loving Clarke so freely, so immersed in the intensity of her wife and lover and soulmate’s affection in such an unabashed and open display. 

Lips skittered, danced and parted only long enough for short draws of air. Hands roamed and slid and gathered and clutched as though ever chasing the answer of how to make two form one whole.

A gentle clearing of a throat with a small smattering of  _ 'Alright' _ s and  _ 'That's enough' _ s finally caught her attention. Lexa pulled back with crimson capped ears and a guilty, yet satisfied, grin as she whispered a quiet apology to the thoroughly blushing officiant. 

"Yes, that's, ahem, to be expected," the flame cheeked friar coughed and assured, patting her arm warmly despite his obvious embarrassment. "I will finish my decree and you… go… do what you must. Go with God and, and happy union for you and your families both." With that he nodded to them all, tugging the looped collar of his frock as he hastily made his way out of the hall.

"Right, well," Anya smirked as she sauntered up, clapping Lexa gamely on the back. "I think you've finally scarred him for life. Good show, cousin. I've been aiming for that for years."

Clarke snorted quietly as Lexa felt her resume pressing hot, open mouthed kisses to the underside of her jaw.

"Egh, that was not permission given to start that up again," Anya scowled, as Lexa smiled and tilted her head in encouragement. 

"My wife will do as she pleases."

Anya grunted with disgust and turned to join the small gathering briskly queuing their way out of the chapel with various calls of good faithed departing. "I regret this already. Farewell, I'm leaving before I lose my lunch."

Lexa waived an absent hand before returning to the embrace. Wrapping her arms tightly around her new bride, she breathed in the scent of flowers and candles that surrounded them. Lips found her own, wordless and beckoning for more.

"You taste better as my wife," she grinned, dragging her nose softly over her loves as she angled to switch sides. 

"You're mad," Clarke smiled into her kiss.

"Nonsense. The sweetness of you has surely doubled," she husked. "Shall we see if that is true of all of your flavors?"

"Lexa," she laughed and pulled back, fingers massaging softly across the back of Lexa's neck. "We still must remain discrete."

"I know," Lexa assured with a slow gentle nod. And we will be. For now… But  _ tonight? _ I fully intend to savor you. To taste and feel the warmth of my spouse spilling over my senses," she hushed, leaning forward to slowly breath her intentions hotly into a flushed ear. "Again, and again… and again."

_____________________________________

" _ What are you doing?" _ she hissed as the window slammed open. "Have you lost what little mind you possess?"

Clarke watched as the woman pulled a face as she leaned back precariously, allowing the window to swing open without knocking her from her perch. 

"I told you I would be here this hour," Lexa whispered as she leaned back in.

"And I told you to come later!"

"You did not. You said, 'You'll be caught before then'," she corrected the quietly thundered falsehood. "And yet, here I stand, safe and unseen."

Clarke stared scathingly at her for a long moment, jaw slack in silent disbelief as she took in the soft curves of that face: devoted innocence shining through what was usually a mask of bravado and arrogance. 

"... I had to see you," Lexa whispered in pained desperation to break the stretch of silence as her hand reached out to trace the glinting band of silver upon Clarke's finger. "I miss you more and more each time we part... Don't be angry with me."

"Lexa," she breathed, laying a hand over her eyes to block out the distractingly charming pools of green. "I told you- We must stay careful right now. If anyone had seen-"

"They did not. They will not," she quickly assured, "I would never do anything to bring harm to you, you know that."

Weak by the subject of her heart’s love, Clarke chewed the inner swell of her lip for a moment as she warred with her own helpless desire to be with her spouse. Eventually folding with a conceding nod, she stepped away when the begging face turned suddenly brilliant. A smile exceeding the earthly parameters of reasonability exploded across Lexa's mouth as fumbling hands and clambering feet moved to lift the woman inside.

"Once we parted, I had wondered quite obsessiv-  _ ow, _ obsessively, if your wedded radiance was as breathtaking in the moon-  _ ow, _ in the moonlight while wearing my token of devotion," Lexa struggled with clumsy movements and knocking of knees, clipping her head on the sill in her haste to stumble in through the window. Feet finally meeting the floor, Lexa staggered a few steps with the momentum of her graceless entrance until Clarke caught her with steadying hands. 

Absently blowing a puff of air upward to remove an errant curl from her eyes, Lexa smiled in a dazed sort of wonder at the face now tenderly cupped in her palms. "Now I have no need to wonder. There is no hour of the day in which you are not exquisite."

"Are you quite alright?" Clarke asked, trying and failing to stifle small rumbles of laughter. 

"In your arms? Yes. Always. Forever. However long thereafter," she rambled breathlessly and leaned forward, capturing Clarke's lips in a slow, firm kiss of hello. 

Clarke had never understood until she had met Lexa what it meant to feel such things. How home was no palace or spiritual retreat; no familial greeting nor word nor curtsey. Rather, it was these indefinable parts that made up the whole of her home, and her home simply was wherever she may be, so long as she was within reaching distance of Lexa.

And she relished the warmth that settled in her lungs at feeling her home return once more.

Despite her frustration with the woman for continuously toeing the line of caution toward being discovered red handed, Clarke sunk into the moment of wholeness whenever she was around.

"Is that how you plan to escape every thick moment?" Clarke breathed instead, still a little off balance herself by the intensity of the kiss. "Charming me tirelessly?"

"The opposite, in fact. By you, I find myself only charmed."

"Mmm... Perhaps you hit your head harder than we'd thought."

Gently smiling in soft affection, Lexa slowly shook her head as she rested hands on Clarke's hips. "I missed you terribly," she whispered, leaning forward to press slow kisses to her jaw.

"I always miss you." Clarke slid her arms around narrow shoulders as she felt herself pulled close and wrapped into the warmth of a hug. She breathed deep when lips pressed to her neck, tucking her face into the hold as her mind filled with the familiar scents of forest and chivalry and moonbeams. They stood holding each other in silent reverence, fingers tightening in small reassuring squeezes to remind their hearts that their other half was there.

"I'm sorry if I startled you," Lexa eventually mumbled against her skin. "I couldn't stand another moment away."

Breathing a small laugh, Clarke nuzzled the cheek beside her. "Do I seem all that upset?"

"... Well… I  _ am _ irresistible."

"You're vexing is what you are."

"I-"

Realizing for the innumerable time since they'd met that this infuriating woman would  _ always _ have something more to say, Clarke quickly rolled her eyes with affection and leaned in again to effectively shut her up. 

______________________________

"Put your legs around me," Lexa rasped as delicate hands urged Clarke to lift up from her heels. 

Goosebumps erupted over her skin as she shuffled and slid into place, Clarke feeling her heart tremble at the feeling of safety in the embrace. Legs slung around Lexa's hips, she stifled a gasp as strong hands cupped her backside and pulled her in more closely, more securely, into the cradle of Lexa's lap.

She had felt unmoored within herself as they had undressed, a quiet affair of lips and caressing hands. Lexa had been so gentle, moreso even than usual, as though unwrapping her like a precious gift. They'd stood staring at each other in awed silence, eyes reacquainting themselves with plains and valleys and dips of alabaster skin, as though viewing each other in a truly new light. 

It had been Clarke who broke first, stepping into Lexa's space to lay shaking hands on shaking limbs as she guided them back toward the bed.

Her stomach clenched under those eyes as Lexa gazed up at her in wonder from where she'd settled on the edge. Shifting back, Lexa had taken her hand to pull her in after, urging Clarke to drape herself over Lexa's own body.

Endless moments of soft rediscovery passed between them, Lexa writhing and moving and adjusting again and again, in bids and professions of wanting, needing, her closer.

Seated there now, she could feel the heat of her all over, the burn of tan skin licking at Clarke's senses with every caress and touch. 

"Touch me," Lexa breathed into the skin of her neck as fingers skittered over the sensitive waves of Clarke's ribs. "Please."

Clarke inhaled a sharp gulp of air as her palms smoothed over the flexing muscles of Lexa's stomach, the ridges of her abdominals firm and yet delicate, and yielding with each labored breath. She cupped small pert breasts, thumbs circling taut nipples into aching tips before leaning forward to take one between her lips. 

_ "Fuck," _ Lexa moaned as she held the back of Clarke's head in a gentle hold to keep her in place. Clarke hummed at the possessiveness of her grip, eyes turning upward as she pulled back with a wet sucking pop to switch sides, finding forest rimmed pools of inky night skies staring hungrily back. 

Lexa's chest heaved and shuddered when she wrapped her lips around the neglected breast while she massaged the rapidly cooling one left behind. She felt herself  _ drip _ at the way Lexa stared, eyes trained solely on the work of her mouth. 

"Come here."

Unable to resist the moaned command, Clarke released the straining bud to immediately claim lips with a gentle urgency. Fingers dug into her hip, the arm wrapped around her waist tightening rhythmically with the glide of Lexa's tongue. 

"I want to feel you everywhere."

Biting her lip at the surge of emotion at the small plea, Clarke nodded and shuffled the remaining fraction closer. The firm press of Lexa's breasts against her own was an intoxicating sensation, shivers running through her at the scrape of pebbled nipples brushing against her own as worshipful palms caressed.

Clarke couldn't take it, couldn't stand the overwhelming feeling of this newly found connection, opting instead to distract herself with cherry pliant lips. She kissed Lexa in hot, deep strokes, tongues sliding together at the first brush of the kiss as the fire of wanton longing thundered through her veins.

Long moments passed as they fell into each other, bodies pushing and pulling in the heat of their kiss. Lips suckled and nipped at her own, teasing and licking and lapping at the desperation within their mouths. Fingers softly slid along the curves of her body, plucking nipples and massaging every inch of skin within reach. 

A sharp nod and a moan was all she could muster before feeling those fingers slip farther below. The air burst from her lungs at the first graze through damp wiry curls, soft calloused tips sliding easily across swollen slick folds. Colors shimmered across the blackness of her eyes as they slammed shut at the first touch; at the press of two fingers smoothing her slick down and then up to circle and soothe the throbbing of her clit. 

"Look at me," Lexa whispered, the edge of a beg tainting her lips. Clarke's eyes fluttered open, struggling against the draw to let them fall shut again in bliss. The thinnest ring of green burned brighter and fuller as Clarke focused, her heart stuttering with the emotions she witnessed swimming there. 

A small quiver to full lips was her only warning before fingers glided down and tips pressed to her entrance. Clarke sucked in a sharp breath, arms tightening as she felt a finger start to slip inside. 

"I love you," Lexa moaned as though it were she being taken, bringing a hand up to gently card through blonde locks. "My wife, goddess… my everything. Are you not-… should I wait?"

"No," Clarke shook her head, pitching forward to claim a calming kiss as she clenched in encouragement below. "You mistake excitement for hesitancy," she offered with a soft cheeky grin. "My body can barely contain itself with the thought of feeling you so entirely."

Lexa smirked lazily, popping a quick kiss to plumped lips. "Mmm, is the flesh joyous to greet its mate, such as souls have already discovered?"

Clarke couldn't help her snort of laughter at that, their teeth clinking as mouths giggled against each other. "I'm astounded you do not float away with the amount of hot air that you possess," she mused, reveling in the way their lips brushed so lightly on the dip of each word.

"... I speak only truths," Lexa insisted, the smile eventually slipping from her face as she looked upon her with a renewed sense of awe. "My heart is yours... My soul, my life... My body," she whispered, smoothly resuming her movements, sliding completely inside as far as she could reach. "Yours."

The air punched from Clarke's lungs on the tip of a moan, bowing further into the woman at the small stretch. She shivered with the feeling of Lexa moving inside of her, the slick friction sending pulses of pleasure rippling up her spine.

Clarke began rolling her hips, meeting the slow pace thrust for thrust. Her fingers gripped at strong flexing shoulders, Clarke tossing her head back at the stretch of an added finger. Small moans and pleas spilled from her lips as an arm wrapped tighter around her waist to keep her from tumbling back as Lexa steadily built her up.

"You look so beautiful," Lexa groaned between licks and nips to the full chest before her, teeth dragging and igniting forest fires of heat crackling over her skin. "Feel so good. So warm, and  _ tight." _ Lexa punctuated her words with a deep pump of her fingers, pausing to hook and stretch against wet walls, the slick sounds of her movements sounding deliciously filthy off the stone walls of her room.

Clarke let herself be moved to Lexa's whim as she pulled her down in time with each steady upward thrust. She keened at the feeling of a thumb brushing over her clit, tight gentle circles causing Clarke’s legs to seize around full hips. "Lex," she gasped to the heavens before pitching forward, arms clinging in a vice grip around the woman's shoulders.

"I have you," Lexa breathed, her words sounding thick in Clarke's ear as plump lips pressed and dragged along the skin of her neck and her hand sped up. "I'm right here. Let go."

And then the world within her exploded at the solid swipe of a thumb. Blinding white pleasure clenched in her core, her hips grinding and juddering messily as she felt herself spill onto the relentlessly attentive hand.

Warm lips swiftly gobbled up the vibrations of her moans before they could burst through the slumbering house, silken mouth and tongue both soothing and coaxing as her rapture quieted into gentle whimpers of rapturous satisfaction.

She pulled away when her lungs cried for oxygen and leniency, lips smearing across Lexa's cheek and sharp jaw as she moved to rest on the woman's shoulder. Face tucked tightly into the warm damp crook of her neck, Clarke worked to settle her breathing with lungfuls of Lexa's scent.

"Are you alright?" Lexa asked, hand sliding over the notches of Clarke's back.

"Very," she replied with an unseen but surely felt smile. "Better than I have ever been."

"I didn't hurt you?"

"No," Clarke hushed, leaning back far enough to rest their heads together. "You were perfect. It was perfect, and felt wonderful... Thank you."

Lexa chuckled at that, tilting forward to steal a kiss from reddened lips. "Never thank me for such silly things. They are surely selfish, the reasons I enjoy making love to you."

"Oh?" Clarke questioned, ignoring the flip of her stomach at her new wife's phrasing.

"Yes," she purred, collecting kiss after kiss. "Your pleasure gives me pleasure... And joy... And happiness."

Smiling between presses of lips, Clarke trailed her hand down the sweat slicked chest, reveling in the small hitch of Lexa's breath. Her eyes followed the glide of her fingers over clenching muscle, over the slight swell of her stomach, the divot of her bellybutton, and down. "I wish to feel this happiness you speak of," she hummed, stroking over damp curls toward molten heat.

"That can be arr-" Lexa's words cut off at the first glide of her fingers, tips rubbing over the small bud that she found. She was so soft, so open and ready, clearly having been quite affected by her own exploration of Clarke. A groan rumbled from deep inside Lexa's ribs, lips tucked between her teeth as she drew a sharp breath in through her nose. "Arranged."

"Does it feel good? Should I give you more?"

"Yes," Lexa said, the word bursting from her mouth on the wave of a short breath.  _ "Please." _

Clarke felt the woman start to shift along with her movements, the fingers twitching inside of Clarke causing her hips to buck.

"No no no no," Clarke rushed softly when Lexa seemed to realize where she was still seated deeply within her and had started to retreat. Clarke reached to cup the hand and keep her in place. "... Stay with me."

Lexa whined with a nod as Clarke's fingers traced through the swollen folds between her legs, fingers spreading the arousal along her slit. 

She felt the bud twitch and pulse at her touch as she rolled and teased and danced away. Smiling at the lost keening sound in her ear, Clarke took gentle mercy, sliding two fingers deep and bringing her palm up for much needed relief.

The angle was a bit strained and didn't leave her much room to thrust, but what she lacked in driving friction, Clarke more than made up for in the stroking of her touch. She worked against the spongy ridge that caused Lexa's eyes to flutter and slightly roll up with each hook of her tips. Lexa grasped the back of Clarke's neck and drew her forward, laying a firm kiss to her lips that left them both panting harder, foreheads pressed together as they ground and shuddered in time.

Clarke grabbed at her, fingers and nails scratching gentle pathways across Lexa's body at the wet slip of fingers, her hand cupping the smaller rounded breasts and kneading to a symphony of moans. Ignoring the swell that curled in her belly, Clarke focused 

The only warning she received was the ghost of a whimper before pupil blown eyes slammed shut and snapping muscles clamped down around her. Lexa's hips rolled in quick messy circles, spilling the wet warmth of her release as Clarke watched the climax play out across her face.

The pure bliss of her looked intoxicating, rosy glossed lips trembling and twisting in breathy moans as she rode out the surging waves of pleasure. Clarke bent to taste the salt of her ardor, tongue lapping at the fiery red flush that had exploded across her skin. 

It was beyond anything Clarke ever thought love and passion could be.

Long labored breaths rattled from the heaving chest as Clarke watched her come down, a satiated daze coloring Lexa's features in aftershocked bliss.

"If your goal was to prove me arriving sooner than expected a woeful idea, I am afraid you have failed miserably."

___________________________

"Clarke," Lexa whispered into sweat and lavender sweetened flaxen strands of silk, pressing the ghost of a smile to her wife's slumbering head. "I must go now."

"A thousand times... no," Clarke breathed with a lazy smile, defying exhaustion to drag herself up. "You should stay. It can't possibly be morning yet." 

"But it is," she said sadly, fingers combing through the wild strands flared across her chest. "The sun will be here soon."

"No," Clarke argued with a yawn. "That light is a lie, day is surely hours away. It can stay where it is, and I will fight its every advance in this moment."

"Fight what? The sun?" Lexa grinned.

Clarke turned her head and looked up, eyes adoring and laced with a sleepy promise. "... Anything at all that forces you from me. " Tracing the arch of the delicate relaxed brow, Clarke let herself be drowned in the moment, the affection radiating from the woman permeating her very bones. "Do you have any idea how much I love you?"

The small smile that blossomed caused Clarke's heart to stutter and flip. "Of course I do, my love," Lexa whispered as her gaze skipped and danced across her skin… before being replaced by a haughty smirk. "It's nearly half as much as I love you."

Scoffing loudly, Clarke shoved the laughing woman over and more firmly onto her back, slinging herself up and over Lexa's waist as she pinned her shoulders to the bed. "Every time I try to be loving, you turn it into jest. It's infuriating. And terribly distracting."

Lexa smiled with faux scandalized indignation, grasping at the thighs strapped on either side of her. "Outrage, m'lady. My words are harmless offerings of worship. These are  _ wildly _ unfounded accusations you make."

"Unfounded?" Clarke chuckled in disbelief, sitting up with a slow of grind hips. "Must I test your convictions? Show you how distracting it can be?"

Eyes falling down to where wet heat pressed to her abdomen, Lexa slid her hands over the plush hips above. "You're definitely off to a good start… Though I distract with words, unlike you with your wiles. This seems riotously unfair."

"Is that so?"

"Mmm, yes. See how you paint me in my most favorite of sins... I am truly helpless against it." 

A slow smirk crept wickedly over Clarke's lips, allowing hands to grasp and guide the drag of her core over the flexing muscles of her wife's abdomen. "I suppose I could stop. If you truly find it too distracting, that is."

Lexa husked a small laugh and gazed back up with a playful shake of her head. 

"No. Please, distract me, my love… Give me my sin again."

♡

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come yell at me @ butmakeitgayblog on tumblr or go tell @ commander-leksa how amazing her edits are 😌
> 
> Comments of any kind much appreciated and encouraged. Not just for me but for writers that you enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on tumblr @butmakeitgayblog if you'd like 😌


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